The station was sometimes called the Minneapolis Union Depot, which actually was the name of the previous station on the opposite side of Hennepin Avenue that had been in use for 30 years. The older Union Depot was razed; today, that site is used for loading docks by the central downtown Minneapolis Post Office. The Stone Arch Bridge was built to serve the original Minneapolis Union Depot, but later provided access to the Great Northern Depot. The Minneapolis BNSF Rail Bridge, an older crossing of the Mississippi River to the north, also served the depot with a cutoff track located on the bridge. The Minneapolis Great Northern Depot was built to serve the railroad empire of James J. Hill. It was constructed at the height of the City Beautiful movement, at a time when Minneapolis was striving to revive the decaying Bridge Square area. The building was designed by Charles Sumner Frost, who had earlier designed the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed, and then later the Saint Paul Union Depot. Frost had also supervised the construction of the Navy Pier in Chicago and the Maine State Building at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Depot was constructed of brick and reinforced concrete. It was faced with light Kettle River sandstone. It was designed in a Beaux-Arts style with a Doriccolonnade facing Hennepin Avenue. The train tracks ran Northwest–Southeast along the Mississippi river, under Hennepin Avenue and into a pass-through train shed.
Demise and reuse of the depot site
Passenger train service through the depot declined from a peak of 125 daily trains during World War II to just one route when Amtrak began operation in 1971—the Empire Builder. Amtrak opted to consolidate all of its Twin Cities service at the Great Northern Depot, shuttering St. Paul's Union Depot. Traffic rebounded very slightly in following years, as the Arrowhead, North Coast Hiawatha, and Twin Cities Hiawatha entered service, though these sometimes operated as combined trains from Chicago or only served the depot on alternating days. The trains continued to stop at the depot until the Midway station opened in Saint Paul, roughly halfway between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, in 1978. The Great Northern Depot was demolished later that year. The area lay vacant and was adjacent to the Berman Buckskin building and the Chicago Great Western railway freight warehouse. All these buildings were torn down to make way for development; the site is occupied by the third and current Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis building. The new Target Field station for the Metro light rail line and Northstar commuter rail line was constructed at the site of Target Field along BNSF Railway's Wayzata Subdivision. It is located five blocks west and two blocks north of the former depot.
Trains
It was the destination for trains of several railroads that served Minneapolis, including,
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed – Former Minneapolis destination for Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, and Rock Island passenger trains.
Midway station – Former passenger station serving the Twin Cities.
Saint Paul Union Depot – Former and current St. Paul passenger train destination, recently restored.
Demolished
The following railroad depots that once existed in Minneapolis have been demolished.
Chicago Great Western Railway Depot – located on South Washington Avenue at 10th avenue South. The location was a parking lot for many years, and is now redeveloped into high density residential blocks.
Chicago Great Western Freight Station was adjacent to the Great Northern Depot, also on the North side of Hennepin Avenue.
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway Station – located at the Southeast corner of 4th street North and Washington Avenue North, currently a parking lot.
Electric Short Line Railway Depot, shared with the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, as well as the Minneapolis, Anoka and Cuyuna Range Interurban railway. It was located at the Northwest corner of 7th St. North and 3rd Avenue North, now Target Field.
Minneapolis Union Depot – the predecessor to the Great Northern Depot, located on the South side of Hennepin Avenue next to the Mississippi river, currently green space between the bridge and Minneapolis Central post office.
